Do You Really Need an App for that?A Top Tips App Development Checklist

Garry Partington

•  CEO of Apadmi, Reality Mine & the Founder of Mobile Monday Manchester, an organisation which holds networking and knowledge sharing events for the mobile community.

•  Worked in the mobile industry for over 15 years, even helping to develop the first smartphone, the Ericson R380 back in 1998.

@garrypartington

www.apadmi.com www.realitymine.com www.momomcr.org

Garry Partington

garryp@apadmi.com

Apadmi Background

•  The experts in mobile technology, creating brand led mobile experiences for businesses and end consumers alike.

•  55 strong team, who deliver and strengthen brand advocacy and engagement by creating reliable, robust and intuitive mobile apps and server solutions in both the consumer and enterprise space.

•  Over 15 years industry experience.

•  Our clients include The BBC, The Guardian, The X Factor, BT, Skyscanner and Aviva.

@apadmi apadmi.com Apadmi

People Like Apps

75 billion apps are expected to be downloaded by the end of the year

50 billion iOS apps - 800 apps per second

20 billion Android apps

Incredibly Busy Marketplace

40% of users turned to competitors as a result of a bad mobile experience

57% of users wouldn’t recommend a business based on a bad mobile experience

Important to Stand Out

Mobile App and/or Mobile Web? 85% of users prefer apps BUT consider user demographics. A mobile app is not the same as a mobile strategy – an app is a bookmark for loyal users, a mobile website is for everyone else. Define the App’s Purpose Build a ‘made for app’ experience – don’t just copy your mobile website. Consider what the app should achieve? Use the added functionality to better serve app users whose expectations will differ.

1. Apps’ for Apps Sake?

Evaluate User Demographics Considering these questions, even if you can’t answer them all, will help you design and develop an app that is useful, usable and relevant: Are your users tech savvy or novices? What are their usage patterns? What platforms & devices do they use? – develop for the most popular if they have limited resources. Where will they have connectivity?

2. Know Your Users

Simplicity, Usability & Reliability It’s better to launch an app that does one thing well than lots of

things badly.

3. What’ll Do?

4. Content Matters

Create vs. Consume Content If your app is consuming content understand where it is coming from. How it gets to the app, influences the app’s size and the complexity of embedding content. Embedding content makes apps harder to update but simpler to build. Downloading content makes coding more complex but updates easier.

A Good User Experience is Critical to Success Expectations are high. Users are accustomed to well-designed, functional apps. Its quicker, cheaper and easier to test a paper of HTML based mock up of a UI than to fully develop the application and realise problems. Device Led Design Users of an Android device do not expect apps to behave in the same way as they would on an Apple device. Each platform has certain idioms users become used to.

5. Design & Intuitive UI

Define the Relationship Developing an app is more than just programming. The partner should take you through concept creation and definition, UI design, development, testing, launch, analytics and ongoing support and maintenance, essential for bug fixes and platform and device updates. Be clear what is included within the budget. Partner Credentials Look at a partner’s experience, their customers and ask for references and ask how they will work with you. This interface will be the key for success.

6. Choose Your Partner

Launch the App Under Your Name Unless agreed for ‘commercial reasons’ so not to confuse users. If you

create a great app it should be your name all over it.

Ensure you Own the Source Code You’ve paid for it after all and make sure you actually receive it. This gives you more options when it comes to maintenance and future releases.

7. What’s Yours is Yours

8. Source Code

An App is not just for Christmas If you keep your app updated, fresh and functional on the latest platforms and devices your app could have the lifespan of several years. Ensure you have a roadmap for the life of your app, inc. support for new devices and releases.

Review your App Store Rating This enables you to gather direct feedback from users, providing valuable insights for future updates.

Deploy an Analytics Package Analytics packages can provide near real time stats and invaluable insights about your apps usage, helping you make strategic decisions.

9. After the Launch

Plan the Launch and Promotion of your App With hundreds of apps launching every day, its not enough to just launch your app and hope it gets downloaded. Ensure your launch and promotion is consistent with your overall marketing strategy.

10. Marketing & Monetisation

Consider Pricing Inevitably free downloads are more popular than paid ones, so you should only charge if the app truly adds value through content or functionality.

Download the Full Whitepaper

12 Top Tips to Create a Great Mobile App

www.apadmi.com/whitepapers

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